Residents Say They Will Ignore Nuclear Dump Notices

Landowners Consider Resisting Dump Tests

Notices will go out next week to owners of property being considered for a low-level radioactive-waste dump, and some rebellious landowners are already saying they won't read them.

The Connecticut Hazardous Waste Management Service plans to mail a letter to each owner of those tracts in Ellington, East Windsor and South Windsor being considered for dump sites. The notices ask for permission to conduct on-site testing beginning in August.

Some owners say they won't make it that easy for the agency. "We won't accept it," said Irene Gilson of East Windsor, owner of Gilson Farms, who vows to keep the service and its agents off her property.

"We'll get a human chain together and stand out here," she said. "They'll have to run over us with bulldozers before they come on-site."

About 20 acres of Gilson Farms sit on the East Windsor portion of the 470-acre site that straddles the East Windsor-South Windsor line. Two other sites, 243 acres and 238 acres, are in Ellington 2 miles east.

Residents of the three towns began organizing against the dump proposal as soon as the sites were announced June 10. Monday, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd told members of Citizens Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, the principal opposition group known as Core, that they should continue their efforts and expand them to include other towns that might become potential dump sites.

"Town lines are political accidents," the Democrat said. "You will infinitely increase the likelihood of contesting this particular site if the other towns in Connecticut band together with you."

The issue of testing could mark the first legal skirmish over the site-selection process. State law says the service has the right to enter the three potential sites to conduct tests with or without landowners' permission. If denied permission, it could get a court order.

Officials at the waste management service have not decided whether the letters will be sent through certified mail, said

Joseph Cohen, a spokesman for the service. Certified mail requires proof that the letter was delivered.

State law says the service must give "reasonable notice" before it enters the land. That has been defined by the service as 30 days after the landowner receives the letter.

Residents will be asked to reply to the service in writing, Cohen said.

"It's in their best interest to make things run smoothly," he said. "If none of the three sites check out, we'll have to choose another site. Keeping us off-site just drags on the process."

If residents do not respond, the service will send another notice and possibly try phoning the landowner. If there is still no response, Cohen said, a legal notice will be published in a newspaper notifying landowners and asking for permission to go on their properties.

"If they still don't respond, we can assume we have access to their property," Cohen said. "If the area is blocked, we'll go to court and get a court order to go on the property. Anyone that gets in our way is in violation of the court order."

Landowners who defy the court order can be found in contempt and punished with fines or jail time.

That makes no difference to Gilson.

"I don't care what they'll do. We'll fight this all the way. This place is not for sale -- ever," she said.

Leonard Mulnite, president of Mulnite Farms in East Windsor, said he is still debating whether he should allow the service on his land for testing.

"I haven't made up my mind yet," he said. "I'm definitely against them being here.

"We'd like to prove them wrong as far as the water table is concerned. We've got 13 wells on our property. All the well water is under 110 feet. That's where the aquifer is. If they knew this, they wouldn't put a dump here," Mulnite said.

For that reason, Cohen said, residents should let the hazardous waste service on their properties.

"If people are right about their property, the best thing for them to do is let us on and off as soon as possible," he said.

On-site tests may take from a few weeks to a few months, Cohen said. Service contractors will test soil borings and evaluate the groundwater depth.

"We'll be on-site with equipment for many weeks," he said. "Any damage will be paid for. We intend to be very careful."

The tests will determine the final choice for the dump.

Sharon Schall, chairwoman of Core, said the group will not advocate civil disobedience.

"We're more than happy to get property owners in touch with our attorneys for legal advice," she said. "It's our understanding that they can deny [land] access to the service."

Core has not reached a decision as to what it would do if landowners ask for help in barring the service from entering their properties, Schall said.